WORLD CUP USA '94 / THE FINALS : Spotlight : LOOK FOR A SALE - Los Angeles Times

WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FINALS : Spotlight : LOOK FOR A SALE

By JULIE CART

July 15, 1994 12 AM PT

Many of the really important parts of the World Cup are economic.

First, the organizers were hit with the failure of teams with huge fan bases to qualify--England, France and Japan. Then, teams with relatively shallow pockets advanced.

Bulgaria, for one.

World Cup chairman Alan Rothenberg joked about Bulgaria’s economic impact.

“Bulgaria cost us a lot of money,” he said. “They kept France out in the first place (during qualifying), and then they knocked out Argentina and Mexico. Do you know how many T-shirts and novelties Bulgarians buy?”

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Julie Cart

Julie Cart is a former environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she’s also been a sportswriter and a national correspondent. In 2009, Cart and colleague Bettina Boxall won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. She left The Times in 2015.

WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FINALS : Spotlight : LOOK FOR A SALE

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